Apple is exerting more control over content purchased for and available on its popular iPad by enforcing rules that require magazine, newspaper and e-reader publishers to sell all content through iTunes.

As of March 31, apps that do not take payments through its iTunes store will be rejected. Although Apple has long required app publishers to sell subscriptions via Apple's "In App Purchase API," some publishers -- notably, The Wall Street Journal andThe Financial Times -- sold them outside Apple's digital store.

At least two Interior Department offices are testing out iPads in an effort to increase productivity, and a third office is looking to acquire the coveted tablets. But iPads have proven vulnerabilities -- only two weeks ago, a duo was arrested for hacking into AT&T records and exposing 120,000 iPad accounts, including top government officials.

The department is still interested. "They're being used as replacements for laptops and blackberries," said Drew Malcomb, the Interior Department's chief of public affairs. "We see them as filling that need. They have a larger screen, the attachments are onboard and they have most of the capabilities of a laptop."

Verizon's alleged "legal games" are pretty transparent -- and the D.C. Court of Appeals doesn't seem to be too amused. On Wednesday, the court rejected Verizon's request for the same panel of judges that ruled against the FCC in favor of Comcast to hear their own appeal against the Commission's new net neutrality rules. With Verizon's attempt to hand-pick its judges foiled, lawyers agree that their base strategy of ensuring their case will be heard by the D.C. Court of Appeals is still their best bet.

The Internal Revenue Service took a bold step for a government agency and released a smartphone application. Titled IRS2Go, the app lets users check their tax return status. But IRS2Go's relatively limited functionality signals a future challenge for federal agencies releasing iPhone/Android applications: how do you give people the functionality they want while still complying with a variety of outdated rules that govern agencies' interactions with the public.

While none of the telecom giants appeared to be thrilled with the net neutrality regulations passed last month, only Verizon and Metro PCS have taken a swing, challenging the FCC. But are the other cellular giants -- AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile -- just letting Verizon take the lead, or are the backing net neutrality?

Both, and neither, according to various sources: they would apparently rather spend their money fighting issues they see as more key to their success, and may see their acceptance of the popular initiative as a competitive advantage.

Imagine a future in which each row of annuals and perennials in the flowerbed outside your house was a line of defense against dangerous chemicals and explosives. Biologist June Medford and her team at Colorado State University made a big step towards turning plants into chemical security guards when they recently inserted a computer-redesigned receptor protein into a living plant -- giving it the ability to detect explosives.

Medford described her research to TPM: "Okay. I'm a plant. There is a chemical on the outside, and I'm going to recognize this and do something about it on the inside."

Anyone who carries a cell phone can easily be tracked by law enforcement -- and the courts don't require them to get a warrant to do it. Cell phones ping cell towers creating a way of triangulating location -- information mobile providers like AT&T and Verizon collect and distribute to law enforcement upon request.

Sen. Ron. Wyden, D-Ore., said Friday that it's time to rethink the laws that allow law enforcement easy access to that data.

In his State of the Union address earlier this week, President Obama promised a new age of internet access for Americans. He said "Within the next five years, we'll make it possible for businesses to deploy the next generation of high-speed wireless coverage to 98 percent of all Americans."

Senate Democrats this week unveiled their latest attempt to clarify and modernize the security of the country's critical information technology infrastructure. An attempt to pass cybersecurity legislation introduced by Sens. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) and Susan Collins (R-ME) stalled on December 15 when the full Senate failed to act on the measure after it was voted unanimously out of committee.

The currently skeletal legislation, S.21, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and seven committee chairs, is anticipated to include most of the Lieberman-Collins measure. But given its yet-to-be-determined final form, debate about its effects on privacy and executive power have reemerged.

Lockheed Martin opened a virtual reality and simulation laboratory in Littleton, Colo, where they can use virtual reality technology to simulate tests of new products and processes before bringing them into the real world.